Although he had no good impression of the Nationalist government, which was riddled with diseases, and proceeded from the great cause of resistance against Japan that the Chinese and even Asian people had a long way to go, Natsuki resolutely ordered the Irish government to quickly negotiate with the Soviet and Russian sides on matters related to the establishment of air and land transfer routes. The signing of the armistice agreement with Japan by the pen ~ fun ~ cabinet www.biquge.info caused Soviet Russia to be strongly condemned, criticized and even sanctioned by European and American countries, but the two sides have not yet reached the level of tearing their faces after all, and the arms debt owed by the Russians still has to be repaid. Since the Irish demanded, they leased a large military airport in southern Kazakhstan to the Irish military at a high price of 4 million yuan per month, and allowed Irish vehicles to go to China through the Soviet-Russian border, on the condition that the relevant personnel must rent Russian transportation facilities and trains and cars for the transportation of supplies in Soviet Russia, and 60% of the required expenses will be deducted from the arrears, and 40% will be paid in cash by the Irish government.

Natsuki was not surprised at all by the Russians' looting, he left a week for the Irish diplomats to bargain with the Russian government, and then asked the Irish military to mobilize relevant personnel and equipment during the week. During this period, the Irish Government and the Nationalist Government, after several consultations, finalized the rights, obligations, and various constraints of Ireland's assistance to the Chinese military and civilians in carrying out the large-scale transfer by means of a diplomatic agreement -- except for a few suggestions for revisions to the details, the Nationalist Government, which was in a terrible situation, accepted all the demands put forward by the Irish side without any price.

On September 12, 1945, with the arrival of the first batch of Irish military aircraft at the Soviet Russian Red October Air Base in southern Kazakhstan, the cross-border transfer operation codenamed "Tinder" officially began.

Two days later, at dusk, Chengdu South, Xinjin Military Airport. As the crowd watched in anticipation, three Twin-Engine He-28 transport planes painted with the Clover logo appeared in view, serving as the advance force of the official assistance operation of the Western Allies, tasked with surveying the air route and assessing the technical risks throughout the process. In addition, the accompanying Irish technicians will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Chinese airport's hardware to determine whether the existing runway can be used for the large IK-40B to land safely.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, it gradually became an important aviation base for the rear of the Nationalist Government, and during the Sino-Japanese armistice, it also briefly became a busy commercial airport. After the Chinese government moved its capital to Chongqing, a considerable number of European and American aviation units that participated in the anti-Japanese war as volunteers were stationed here to resist the Japanese bombing of Chongqing and Chengdu. In the past three years, more than 100 European and American pilots have spilled blood on the battlefield of resistance against Japan, and with the changes in the international situation, the number of European and American volunteers remaining in China has been reduced from more than 20,000 at the peak to more than 4,000 at present, of which less than 150 are pilots, and the Chinese government currently has less than 100 fighters at its disposal......

Before nightfall, Irish technicians and European and American volunteers stationed here in advance, accompanied by the Chinese side, conducted a technical inspection of the airport runway, and came to the preliminary conclusion that under normal weather conditions and with China's existing support capabilities, the IK-40B can complete take-off and landing, but it can only take off and land at most 20 sorties per day, and the upper limit per day is 1,000-1,200 people according to the calculation of the passenger capacity of 50-60 people -- this refers to the situation that the airport has not been attacked by the Japanese army. At present, the surrounding area of Chengdu is within the range of Japanese bombers, and once it is bombed by saturation, the airfield may completely lose its take-off and landing function for a period of time.

After the technical test, an officer of the German Volunteer Team for Aid to China asked his Irish counterpart, did the Irish really want to use the world's most expensive and powerful bomber as a transport plane?

The Irish officer replied to him in fluent German, just waiting for the Russians to be ready according to the requirements of the Irish military, at least two squadrons of IK-40s will be quickly deployed to the Red October Air Base, they have been refitted, and it is said that there are two modification schemes: one is to convert part of the bomb bay into a temporary cabin, so that the air protection can be preserved to the greatest extent, and the other is just to use the cockpit passage and the fighting compartment to load personnel, and the bomb bay is used to load various supplies, At that time, they could only avoid the Japanese fighters by flying at high altitudes.

The Germans pouted and said that a single IK-40 sortie cost as a squadron of Ju-30s, and that it was a luxury to use such a sophisticated flying machine to move refugees.

Irish officers said he and his colleagues felt the same way. You must know that the cost of an IK-40 is equivalent to a lightweight warship, and a squadron is equivalent to a detachment. But having said that, using a medium-range transport aircraft such as the He-28 may seem more cost-effective, but due to fuel range limitations, they must be refueled once to fly here from the Red October base, while the IK-40 can easily make a round trip with full fuel and leave immediately after landing, reducing the time spent here and reducing the risk of being destroyed by the Japanese on the ground.

The German officer, with his hands on his hips, told the Irishmen that newcomers could not imagine how ferocious and crazy the Japanese were. In the past month, as long as it does not rain, Japanese fighters have come here at least three times a day, and at most 17 times a day, blowing up the runway of the airport into craters, and the Chinese army no longer has enough fighters to expel them, and the antiaircraft artillery company guarding the airport is replenishing new recruits every day, and there is a serious shortage of weapons, and some companies only have two antiaircraft guns and five or six machine guns.

Although they had not had time to examine the airfield in detail, nor had they seen the fury of the Japanese air forces, the Irish officers were not ignorant of the situation, but were almost familiar with it—the information provided by the Chinese and the reports of the Irish volunteers provided as much information as they should know.

He told the German officers that even if the situation here was worse than expected, they would carry out the decision of the King of Ireland without hesitation.

The German officer was silent for a moment, and then he told his Irish counterparts that His Majesty Joachim I was not only the supreme and wise presence in the eyes of the Irish soldiers and civilians, but also that the German soldiers were full of reverence for him, and that he hoped that his decision would be as correct as ever, and that he would be able to save the good and industrious civilians here.

After nightfall, only a few lights can be seen at the huge Xinjin Airport. Although the Japanese air force, which firmly held air supremacy on the battlefield, disdained to carry out night bombing of Chinese targets, its fighters still flew at night from time to time to reconnoitre, monitor, and harass military installations in Chinese cities. In addition, a large number of Japanese agents and traitors who defected to the Japanese army infiltrated the land of Sichuan and Shu to wreak havoc, which also caused the Nationalist Government to adopt extremely strict day and night security measures for important military facilities, including airports.

Turning from east to west, Ireland, more than 9,000 kilometers away, was in the middle of the day, and in the northwest of Ireland was a small town called Kinlo on the shores of Lake Moff, where an unnumbered special unit was stationed. In classified Irish military sources, it is referred to as the "Chinese Brigade", while in official records of the Nationalist Government, it is known as the "National Revolutionary Army Guerrilla Teaching Corps". The 8,000 Chinese athletes who were trained here did not follow the inherent organizational pattern of the National Revolutionary Army or imitate the formation of the field units of the Irish Army, but adopted a unique organizational method -- their largest organizational unit was a battalion, and daily drills were conducted in companies, platoons, and squads. Here, they not only learned the most basic combat techniques, but also learned the tactical skills of guerrilla warfare from instructors, and learned to recognize the Japanese troops, ranks, job markings, and even learn common Japanese.

What is surprising is that these Chinese soldiers trained in Ireland were not issued with the standard equipment of the Chinese army or the standard weapons of the Western allies, but with the 6.5 mm caliber versions of the Type 38 rifle, the Taisho 11 light machine gun, and the Ai-made Hubert-III semi-automatic rifle -- all of which used the Type 38 rifle cartridge as standard ammunition, which was easier to find and replenish on the battlefield against Japan, and the Irish imitation Mauser C-96 semi-automatic pistol. With a caliber of 7.63 mm, ammunition and spare parts can be obtained through a variety of channels in the Chinese region. As for the grenadiers they used, they were completely Japanese, and the Russian army had captured countless pieces in the Far East, basically paying for the money they owed to Ireland for scrap iron......

As soon as the agreement between Ireland and Soviet Russia to jointly establish an air and land transfer channel was reached, the "Chinese Brigade" received a secret telegram order from the Chinese Government that the three battalions that had completed all the training courses would board a ship with basic equipment and go to Murmansk, and then go to the Red October Air Base via Soviet and Russian railways and roads, and then return to China by Irish planes from there. In the telegram, the Chongqing Government made it clear that all ministries must abide by discipline and strictly guard against Russian infiltration and collusion on the way through the Russian border.

More than 2,000 Chinese soldiers marched from the town of Jinluo to the seaport of Refleur via inland waterways, and thousands of Chinese expatriates heard the news and saw off the troops who had returned to China to fight in the war. In fact, since the 20s, Ireland's relatively relaxed immigration policy and booming economic situation have attracted immigrants from all over the world, and the Japanese invasion of China and later the sweep of the South Seas have caused tens of thousands of Chinese to leave their homeland and travel across the ocean. Despite the difficulties of adapting to the environment and language barriers, the impartiality of the Irish authorities and the tolerance of the people allowed them to settle down and gradually adapt to life here, thereby contributing their sweat and wisdom to the economic and social development of this emerging country. By the mid-40s, Chinatowns had been established in many Irish cities, and there were many Chinese villages on the outskirts, and according to official statistics, more than 200,000 Chinese people had settled in Ireland, accounting for more than 2% of the total population of Ireland......

(End of chapter)